A curse threatening archaeologists: evil spirits in ancient bottles (8 photos)

From time to time, archaeologists find strange artifacts in England that some superstitious people consider dangerous. These objects are clay or glass bottles filled with needles, nails, fishhooks, nails and hair.





Traps for evil

These strange objects are called witch bottles. In old times in England they were used as traps for evil spirits and witches' curses. According to English beliefs, nails and hair attracted the spirit, and hooks, needles and nails captured it.



To date, about 200 such artifacts have been found in Britain. Most of them date from the mid to late 17th century. Sometimes similar bottles are found in the USA.

At the same time, according to archaeologists, many of these objects were most likely irretrievably lost to history. Witch bottles are often found during the demolition of old buildings. Once upon a time, owners hid them in their homes in a secret place near the fireplace to protect all family members.









Workers dismantling the building, according to experts, often do not understand what exactly they found. As a result, the artifact is sent for recycling. In some cases, according to archaeologists, workers may guess that they have discovered a witchcraft artifact and simply get rid of it out of harm’s way.

Sometimes witchcraft bottles are found in the fields in England. In this case, the purpose of the object is to capture the evil spirits causing crop failure. In the fields, witch bottles are most often also found next to the fire - not far from the fire pits.



Cannot be opened

According to archaeologists, most often in ancient times, people made such witchcraft attributes during various kinds of political upheavals, when they were unsure of their future. People also often tried to protect their crops during droughts in this way. Both clay and glass bottles could be used as traps.



Superstitious people believe that studying such artifacts can be dangerous for archaeologists. The fact is that such bottles cannot be opened. As soon as the bottle is opened, the evil spirits sitting in it gain freedom. And these spirits may subsequently begin to torment the curious scientist.



One day, archaeologist Joe Jones, studying one of these artifacts found in 2016, was asked if any misfortunes had happened to him since he began his work. Jones laughed at this, but then thought for a moment. After thinking, he said: “Perhaps the bottle can be blamed for a lot of things.”